Malaysia PM Anwar Ibrahim arrived in India on three-day visit to India
Malaysia PM Anwar Ibrahim
arrived in India on three-day visit to India
According to Ministry of External Affairs (MEA)
Malaysian PM Anwar Ibrahim landed in Delhi on Monday on a three-day visit. He and PM Modi will sign a number of agreements and chart out a “multi-sectoral cooperation agenda” to enhance trade, strategic ties, and people to people links.
However, officials side-stepped the issue of controversial Islamic preacher Zakir Naik, wanted by Indian investigative agencies on alleged charges of hate-speech and money laundering, and whether India’s demand that he be sent back to India, would be raised amidst Ibrahim’s visit.
When asked at a briefing last week, the MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal did not confirm whether the issue would feature, saying only that India-Malaysia ties “have improved over the past few years”, and that the government was “eagerly waiting to warmly welcome him”.
Jaiswal added that there will be discussions on many issues, and all the matters between the two countries will be discussed.
In 2019, PM Modi had raised Naik’s extradition with then Malaysian PM Mahathir Mohammad directly, when they met on the sidelines of a conference in Russia. At the time, the government had announced that Indian and Malaysian officials would “stay in contact” regarding the “important issue”, but Mahathir, who granted Naik permanent residency in Malaysia, ruled out India’s request publicly. The provisional arrest request and extradition request against Naik, who moved to Malaysia in 2016, was sent by India to the Malaysian government in January 2018.
Indian agencies had also failed to persuade Interpol to issue a Red Corner Notice against Mr. Naik despite three requests, submitted between 2017 and 2019. The Interpol’s adjudicating body found the evidence against Naik “not sufficient” to warrant it.
In October 2017, the National Investigation Agency had filed a chargesheet against Mr. Naik on the charge of inciting youth to take up terror activities, giving hate speeches, and promoting enmity on communal lines. The Enforcement Directorate also submitted a prosecution complaint against him under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act in 2019.
Significantly, Ibrahim had visited India in 2019 when he was part of Mr. Mahathir’s ruling alliance. In an interview to The Hindu at the time, he had said that Malaysia needed “evidence” of Mr. Naik’s guilt. “Malaysia has been tough on terrorism, and if we are given incontrovertible evidence that someone has been involved, we would not tolerate it,” Mr. Ibrahim said.
The first Malaysian PM to visit India since former Mohammad Najib Tun Razak in 2018, Ibrahim is being accorded a state visit, and will hold talks with Modi after a ceremonial welcome at Rashtrapati Bhavan on August 20. He will also give a special lecture on ‘Leveraging Malaysia-India ties’ in the context of the Global South at the Indian Council of World Affairs.
As per statement by the MEA
since both countries enter the second decade of Enhanced Strategic Partnership next year, the visit of Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim would pave way for further strengthening of India-Malaysia bilateral ties by charting out a multi-sectoral cooperation agenda for the future.
News Edit K.V.Raman
